The Australian Way
by mandrake-o
Summary: Typical person goes to Hogwarts story starring one million and one OCs. You think this is interesting?
1. Not a Chapter but a prologue.

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The Australian Way

Disclaimer:- I do not own Harry Potter and related stuffs, they belong to whoever they belong to and that's not me. I swear it isn't me.

This is just a prologue. More to come if you want it. I think it's perfect by itself. =)

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I've always assumed that I'm just a girl from Sydney. I've always assumed that there was no such thing as a wizard world. I've always assumed that the creatures in fairy tales weren't real. But how did I come to make all these assumptions? Who told me? And why is it, that even though I'm assuming that there is no such thing as magic, things happen that I just can't explain?

My name's Jennifer Smith. Yes, that's just an ordinary name for an ordinary person like me. There are a million other Smiths in the world and a million more Jennifers. I live in Sydney with four million other people. I'm almost halfway through year six at the only school I've ever known… my last year of primary school. At least, I think I'm ready.

A few days ago, I received a message. It was written on some kind of thick yellow paper. On the front was my name and address. It even indicated what room I was in.

But that's only how I came to be here. What happens to me here is a completely different story.

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A/N: Like? No Like? Do I care? Review if you want to.


	2. Boarding a train with three Ks

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The Australian Way

Disclaimer:- I do not own Harry Potter and related stuffs, they belong to whoever they belong to and that's not me. I swear it isn't me.

First of all, I never really intended to finish this. And I have no idea what's going to happen in coming chapters. I'm open to suggestions. The chapters will be short, so if you don't like it, don't read it. But they should come out fairly regularly.

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I stood in the middle of Kings' Cross Station in a suburb I'd rather not be in this late at night. Kings' Cross. Always rumoured to be the hang out of drunks, drug addicts, abusers, dealers, prostitutes, rapists and any other sort of not-so-good person. Perhaps this wasn't true. Were these really witches and wizards posing like this so that no muggle in their right mind would disturb them? Looking around, I wasn't sure where to go. An eleven-going-on-twelve year old girl is not someone you'd normally find at ten o'clock at night in a bad suburb. My mum was standing nearby, trying to talk to one of the gate assistants. Then I spotted her. Another girl was on the station with a huge trunk in front of her, a small smirk and an owl in a cage.

"Excuse me," I asked as politely as I thought necessary.

"What is it?" You could have added the word 'worm' onto her sentence. The tone suggested just that; that I was a worm. Or worse than a worm.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?"

"What's it to you?" she said, narrowing her eyes at me. The sooner this conversation ends the better.

"I'm going and I wanted to know if you knew how to get onto the train." My voice was stiff and rigid like I never knew it could be.

"You're a mudblood, aren't you?" she said, looking at me like I was worse than a worm. My expression must have answered that question for her. "Okay," she said slowly. "You walk that way in between those two poles and keep walking straight."

She purposely spoke clearly and politely and slowly as though I couldn't understand proper English.

"Thanks," I said, indicating to my mum that I knew where to go.

"Wait," she said, calling after me. I stopped and shot her an inquiring look. "Let me go with you. You might get lost."

I shrugged. "Mum! This girl knows where to go."

"I'm Kinara," she said.

"Jennifer," I replied. "Mum!"

"Muggles aren't allowed on the platform," she said to me.

"What's a muggle?"

"I forgot how much you don't know. Someone who doesn't have magic is a muggle. Your mum is one. She can't get onto the platform."

"Oh," I said. I turned to my mum and quickly explained to her about the no muggles rule. "Okay," I said, turning back to Kinara. "Let's do this."

The trip onto the platform was simple. Any person over the age of eleven with magic or from a wizarding family could pass through and into the magical world. They had to be careful to avoid the entrance if they didn't want to attract attention by suddenly disappearing when talking to a muggle companion.

Kinara led me onto the train and introduced me to two of her friends, Kleio and Kalos. All Greek names, I soon found out. If I went by my middle name, Keleos, we'd all have Greek names beginning with K. The train went all over the country picking up students from each of the capital cities. The train was taking students from Australia to Scotland where Hogwarts School of Witchcraft was situated. Because there weren't all that many people in Australia, they didn't have their own school of witchcraft and wizardry. The wizarding population was quite small, less than a thousand people, and the occurrence of muggle-borns was quite rare. At least, that's what Kinara told me after she managed to work out that I wasn't completely stupid like the Australian wizarding populations seemed to think muggles were.

The four of us shared a sleeping compartment. We'd be arriving in London the next day and staying for a week before going to Hogwarts. I'd missed half a year of school already, just to go to this school. All my friends have been worrying about me. I've just been telling them I'm going to a private boarding school in England. And that it is… only problem is it's a school of magic.

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a/n: anyone notice all my lovely mistakes? Review, please.


	3. First Impressions and Owl Cake

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The Australian Way

Disclaimer:- I do not own Harry Potter and related stuffs, they belong to whoever they belong to and that's not me. I swear it isn't me.

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Rubbing my eyes, I quickly remembered that I was on a train to my boarding school. Hogwarts… has a kind of mystical ring to it… or you could just be reminded of a warty pig.

"So you're awake," a voice said. It was Kleio.

"Yeah," I said, sitting up. "What's the time?"

"Three hours 'til midday."

"I really slept in," I said to her.

"No one else is awake," Kleio said. "But we'll be in London soon. I think we're somewhere above Egypt at the moment."

"Great," I said, getting out of bed, taking my clothes and wandering into the connected bathroom.

Feeling refreshed after a shower, I was surprised to see the other three dressed and ready to go. Magic would take some getting used to. At least I wouldn't be the only muggle born in Hogwarts.

"Ooh look, you can see England!" Kalos exclaimed. I wandered over but the other two weren't interested. They were too busy discussing music and poring over magazines. I'd found them interesting the night before but this morning, they were old news.

England lay before me like a map… in a way, it was a map. The most detailed map I'd ever see in my life. It had amazed me when we'd flown over the Northern Territory how red the soil actually was. There's almost no water or clouds there, that's why it was really clear. I've always heard that it always rains in England. I guess that since it was summer, there would be rain less often.

"That's pretty cool," I said more to myself than to Kalos.

"It is, isn't it," Kalos remarked.

*_We will be arriving in Diagon Alley shortly. Please make sure all belongings are stored in your luggage_*

The intercom system was quite strange. It was like there was a voice inside your head talking to only you.

"You better make sure all your stuff's in your trunk, Jen," Kalos said. "My brother said that if anything's left behind, you'll never see it again."

I packed my pajamas and toiletries back into my trunk and was all set. Soon, I felt the train lurch as it came to a stop. It seemed even wizards didn't know how to control inertia.

*_Diagon Alley_*

The four of us stepped out into the station with our backpacks on backs. We'd left our trunks on the train because they'd be taken to our rooms separately.

"I haven't been here in years," Kinara said. "It's really changed."

"Everybody, everybody over here!" A tall witch called us over the crowd of around 200 students. The crowd hushed and the woman spoke. "As some of the older students know, we will be spending a week here in Diagon Alley before you all catch the school train to Hogwarts with the rest of the students. Here, you must purchase your uniforms and other important school items before leaving at the end of the week. The rest of your time may be spent shopping and getting to know the people. I want you all to leave here with a fair dinkum British accent."

Some people laughed at her usage of Aussie slang. They took it that her speech was ended and the students split off into different directions.

"First years over here!" this time a different voice called, likely for a different purpose. I looked around as worried faces breathed sighs of relief and wandered toward the voice. A man with hazel eyes, reddish-brown hair and a smile was waving his arms waiting for the last of the eleven-year-olds to join him.

"For some of you," he began. "This will be your first visit to London. Or at least, your first visit to Diagon Alley. I'm offering you a tour, but if you'd rather wander around by yourselves, that's fine."

Kinara and Kleio shared a look. Kinara may not have been recently but she and the other two had been to Diagon Alley before and they didn't appear too keen on spending an hour on a tour.

"Let's go," Kinara whispered.

"I want to stay," I said.

"So do I," Kalos said. "I think it'd be fun."

"Well, I'd rather not," Kleio said.

"Okay," Kinara said. "Kleio and I will meet you at Florean Fortescue's in an hour."

"Sure thing," I said, not knowing what Florean Fortescue's was.

The group left and Kalos and I went with them. I managed to get a good look around Diagon Alley with Kalos. She'd been here before but wanted to come just to make sure she remembered everything. Kalos had also managed to wind up at Knockturn Alley once and she didn't want that to ever happen again.

When the man who introduced himself as Phillip got too boring, Kalos started her own commentary.

"This is Eeylops' Owl Emporium. They sell owls as you can probably tell."

"Owls fried, baked or boiled. Anyway you like them," Kalos added.

It was fun. And after that, we had the best ice cream I'd ever tasted. There are good and bad points to being a witch. Ice cream is one of the good things.

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a/n: good? Bad? Terrible? Review if you must.


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